Haiti’s newly installed transitional council chose a little known former sports minister as the Caribbean country’s prime minister on April 30 as part of its monumental task of trying to establish a stable new government amid stifling violence.
Fritz Bélizaire was chosen in a surprise move to replace current interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, gaining the support of four of the seven voting members on the nine-member panel but with other panel members saying they were unfamiliar with Bélizaire.
The council also planned to choose a cabinet as it seeks to quell gang violence that is choking the capital, Port-au-Prince, and beyond. Heavy gunfire was reported in several of the capital’s neighborhoods during the council’s meeting.
More than 90,000 people have fled the capital in the span of one month, and overall, more than 360,000 people have been left homeless in recent years as gunmen raze communities in rival territories.
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